Robert Horry Gives His Thoughts On Ruben Patterson, The Man Who Called Himself "The Kobe Stopper"
On today's Pardon My Take, things were all over the place. Duke's best player opted out (and Hank tried to steer the conversation in a different direction), JJ Watt could be heading to Cleveland, Hot Seat/Cool Throne, Guys On Chicks, and much more.
Today's guest was also an awesome one - 7x NBA Champion Robert Horry. The former teammate of Kobe, Shaq, and Tim Duncan joined Mr. Cat and Mr. Commenter to discuss his basketball career, his favorite coach, and the topic we are breaking down today - the man who called himself "The Kobe Stopper" in Ruben Patterson. What was he thinking? Let's break it down for you:
Mr. Cat: One of the funniest, random things that I just remember from watching the NBA as a kid - Ruben Patterson claiming that he was the Kobe stopper, that was the dumbest thing I've ever seen. I can actually visualize it, NBA on NBC, they're coming in, Ruben Patterson's got his feet in an ice bucket, and everyone in the Portland Trail Blazers locker room is like, "Kobe Stopper, Kobe Stopper." Were you guys like, "Is this guy fucking for real?"
Robert Horry: You know, the crazy part about that, Ruben, you used to play for us. You used to try and guard Kobe in practice. You couldn't guard him in practice and when he wasn't going hard! You think you could guard him in a game, are you serious right now? Ruben had a big ego and when Ruben came in as a rookie, he thought he should have been starting.
Robert Horry: Rookies are always supposed to do stuff like bring your donuts, bring your coffee, or bring your paper, you know. People are probably like, "What's the paper?" But he;'s supposed to do these things. So, Ruben had that ego and that attitude, like, "Yo, I'm from Cincinnati, I'm this Bearcat, I can do this." So, he never did what he was supposed to do as a rookie.
Robert Horry: One night in Sacramento, we said, "OK, we're going to show you how rookies get treated." We got a bunch of athletic tape, taped him up, put him on a luggage cart, put him on a elevator, and hit all the buttons. So, we just left him there.
Mr. Cat: (laughing) I'm happy I asked about that.
Robert Horry: So, that is the Ruben Stopper story. You don't respect us vets, we got something for you. And I think the funniest part is that I felt bad, this old lady, she was about to get on the elevator, and she saw him all tied up. She was like, "Ooohh," and scared her. And we were like, "We're sorry, ma'am, it's a joke." And she got all scared, so that's one night in Sacramento.
Advertisement
Mr. Cat: Yeah, and that guy called himself "The Kobe Stopper."
Talk about a reality check. Imagine calling yourself "The Kobe Stopper" and the next thing you know, you're taped to an elevator in Sacramento while stopping on every floor, and this poor, old lady hops on the elevator out of nowhere. This was just one of many great stories Robert Horry told on today's show, and I highly recommend listening to the entire interview (and show).